Year of Record Heat Leads to Another Year of Financial Losses

STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Global scientific organizations show that we have overwhelmed natural climate variability 

Media Contact: Ryon Harms, [email protected], (310) 730-9407 

EL CERRITO, CALIFORNIA – January 15, 2026 – As You Sow today warned that new climate data by five major scientific organizations confirmed 2025 as marking a decisive turning point pushing the global three-year average temperature above 1.5°C for the first time. Warming temperatures and related climate change continues to have a negative and growing impact on the economy.  

According to a new study, despite being in a La Niña cooling cycle, global temperatures remained near historic highs, pushing the three-year average above 1.5°C for the first time, according to analyses compiled from Berkeley Earth, NASA, the UK Met Office, and NOAA. Scientists say this trend shows that human-caused warming is now overwhelming natural climate variability — a scenario predicted by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in the event of failing to meet global emission reduction goals. 

“This data confirms what communities and investors are already experiencing: climate change is no longer a future event, it’s damage in progress,” said Danielle Fugere, President and Chief Counsel of As You Sow. “ “Ignoring climate risk in daily decision making, whether due to short term investment timelines, undue outside pressure, or both, is a clear failure of corporate governance and fiduciary duty.” 

Economic consequences are beginning to cascade through global markets. Climate-driven disasters are producing record insurance losses, destabilizing infrastructure, and disrupting supply chains, creating systemic risk across the global economy.  

Regulators, courts, and central banks are increasingly recognizing that climate risk is foreseeable and a material risk. Companies that fail to manage it are exposing shareholders to losses that are no longer speculative — they are measurable, recurring, and accelerating. 

“We’ve crossed from prediction into consequence,” said Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow. “Shareholders are paying for inaction through higher insurance costs, stranded assets, and economic instability. As we’ve been warning for years, managing climate risk is now a basic requirement of fiduciary duty.” 

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 As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30+ year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility. As You Sow addresses a range of issues that affect shareholder value including climate change, ocean plastics, toxins in the food system, biodiversity, racial justice, and workplace diversity. See As You Sow's shareholder resolution tracker.